Denmark plans to buy 27 F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin

Denmark’s government said Thursday it wants to buy 27 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter planes made by Lockheed Martin in a deal that would be worth about $3 billion.

Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen said Thursday the government picked the F-35, which is built in west Fort Worth, over the Eurofighter Typhoon and Boeing’s F-18 to replace the nation’s aging fleet of F-16 fighters.

The purchase, which would be the government’s largest ever, needs to be approved by Denmark’s 179-seat parliament.

At a press conference, Rasmussen said Denmark is revamping its fleet at a time when the “world security map has changed, producing new threats closer to Europe and Denmark,” highlighting Russia, the Middle East and Northern Africa as areas for concern.

“We have to look out for our country and our values and we need to do it at home and abroad, requiring us to have robust military capabilities,” he said.

Denmark, a member of NATO, would be the 11th country to buy the F-35 jets which are equipped with radar-evading technology.

The United States has developed the F-35 in partnership with Denmark and seven other countries: Australia, Canada, Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and Turkey. Israel, Japan and South Korea are also foreign military customers.

In addition to more than 100 planes already built for the U.S. military, Lockheed has already delivered F-35s to Australia and Norway.

In a statement, Lockheed said the decision will continue a long-time partnership with Denmark. “The F-35 Lightning II will help ensure Denmark’s national security, and also positions Danish industry to capture long-term work throughout the life of the program,” the compaany said.

The selection by Denmark adds to momentum that has been building in the F-35 program as Lockheed and the U.S. military have made progress in fixing long-running technical problems.

Lockheed’s Fort Worth aeronautics complex is in the midst of a $1.2 billion reworking and expansion to handle increased production. After years of lower-rate production as the company worked through technical problems, Lockheed expects to produce 53 F-35s this year, up from 45 last year, then about 60 in 2017 and as many as 100 in 2018.

The United States plans to spend close to $400 billion to buy nearly 2,500 F-35s for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.

This story was originally published May 12, 2016 at 8:06 AM with the headline "Denmark plans to buy 27 F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin."